MUKESH SINGH Vs. STATE (NARCOTIC BRANCH OF DELHI)

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Learned counsel for the petitioner placed reliance on a judgment of a Bench consisting of three Hon ble Judges of this Court in Mohan Lal vs. State of Punjab,2018 SCCOnline(SC) 974 to submit that since the investigation in the present case was conducted by the Police Officer who himself was the complainant, the trial was vitiated and as such the petitioner-accused is entitled to acquittal.

(2.) Para 4 of said judgment in Mohan Lal (Supra) refers to earlier judgments of this Court in State of Punjab Vs. Baldev Singh, 1999 6 SCC 172 - judgment by Constitution Bench of this Court, Bhaskar Ramappa Madar and Others vs. State of Karnataka, 2009 11 SCC 690 and Surender Alias Kala Vs. State of Haryana, 2016 4 SCC 617, which cases were relied upon to project the view that investigation would not get vitiated merely because it was conducted by the informant himself.

(3.) The judgment thereafter referred to cases; Bhagwan Singh Vs. The State of Rajasthan, 1976 1 SCC 15, Megha Singh vs. State of Haryana, 1996 11 SCC 709, State by Inspector of Police, Narcotic Intelligence Bureau, Madurai, Tamil Nadu vs. Rajangam, 2010 15 SCC 369 wherein while appreciating evidence on record, the fact that the investigation was conducted by the informant himself, weighed with the Court in ordering acquittal of the accused.